"A rich world of a novel, full of hope and life."~ Kate Racculia, author of Bellweather Rhapsody"An epic story of survival and the search for truth."By the time Ramona Newton is fifteen, her mother has walked out, her father soon to follow, and she ends up at a place called the Far East, tending bar for Charlie Big and hustling pool in order to survive. Ramona's life is further complicated when she meets Paul Palazola, a handsome and talented baseball player and a high achiever in school. Ramona fears that Paul, who seems to have it all, will no longer be interested in her once he knows the truth about her and her family. Their complex relationship is only one of the challenges Ramona faces.At the Far East, Ramona is supported by a cast of colorful characters who care about her, even as she is tested by others from the darker side of life. Ramona struggles to keep her dreams of college and a better life alive while longing for her family and the home they once had together. She is haunted by not knowing why her mother left, and begins to see herself as someone of little value and not worthy of being loved. When the secrets of her mother's past are revealed, Ramona bears witness to a searing tragedy of evil and innocence.The story captures the turbulence of the 1960s on the gritty, working-class waterfront of Gloucester, Massachusetts, revealing the clash of generations and class divides, and the turmoil created by the Vietnam War and racial injustice. Faulkner once said, "What is worth the agony and the sweat is to write about the human heart in conflict with itself." In the Shadow of Light asks the question, who do you become when everything that has meant the most to you is taken away? Readers entering Ramona's world will travel alongside a young woman who is challenged, spirited and resilient, and who fights for survival against all odds while searching for the truth.